Sir, In your report “Ukip peer says Islam is not a peaceful religion” (News, August 3), you quote the Labour MP Khalid Mahmood as saying: “The prophet always made the point to be at peace with people and he didn’t convert anybody by force. These statements [from Lord Pearson] are absolutely incorrect.”
It is, in fact, Mr Mahmood who is absolutely incorrect. The Medinan (ie later) chapters of the Koran contain hatred for non-believers and contempt for Jews and Christians, together with numerous verses commanding jihad. Pagans are offered a choice between death and conversion.
Muhammad ordered the assassinations of some forty people, including many poets for the crime of insulting him. He permitted the beheading of 700 males of the Jewish tribe of Banu Qurayza and the enslavement of their women and children. [The Times (£)] Read more
